Knitting machine



H. T. BALLARD KNITTING MACHINE Oct. 16,1923.

Filed March 26. 1921 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Invent 1 H. T. BALLARD KNITTING MACHINE Filed March 26, 1921 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 v lnueni'ar:

ie fight Z'Ballard,

WM Atty.

Oct. 16, 1923. 1,470,677

H. T. BALLARD} KNITTING MACHINE Filed March 26, 1921 4 SheetS-ShEEb 4 Invenion I Jieitiaeitf Tballdmi, I ZZ%ZMW Z;

Patented Get. 16, 1923.

Uhll'l'Efi Si'lfATES HERBERT THEODORE BALLARD, NOR-RIS TOW'N, PENNSYLVANIA.

KNITTING IVIACHINE.

Application filed March 26, 1921. Serial No. 455,924.

To all whom itmaiy concern:

Be it known that I. llnnnnn'r T. Batman. :1 subject of Great Britain, and a resident of Norristown. in the county oi? ll 'lontgomery and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and usetul Improvements in Knitting Machines. of which the following is a specification.

The invention is designed to produce small diameter tubular fabric for use as tape when pressed into flat form. andalso relates to means for spooling the tubular fabric in fiat form. said spooling means being as sociated with the knitting machine to spool the tape as the knitted tube is delivered therefrom.

Other features of the invention will be clear from the following specification.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1. is a side elevation of a knitting machine embodying my invention, parts being shown in section.

Fig. 2 is a central vertical sectionalview of the knitting head with parts in elevation.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the knitting head.

Fig. 4 is a plan of the spooling mechanism.

Fig. 5 is a front view of the. spooling mechanism.

Fig. 6 is a side elevation of parts of the spooling mechanism.

Fig. 7 is a View of a detail.

Fig. 8 shows a trick wheel.

F lg. 9 shows one design o'tifabric which the machine will knit.

In. these drawings, 1 indicates the needle cylinder which is oismall diameter and is grooved. as in ordinary practice, to guide the needles 2. This cylinder has long screw-threaded tubular shank 3 which is screw-threaded into the boss t. of the frame. 4 of the head and projects below the same to be engaged by a nut 5 of elongated form, which nut is hollow,so that the tubular fabric may be passed down through the same, a flange 6 on the lower end of the nut enabling itto be turned by a suitable instrument inserted in the pockets 7 so that the cylinder may be clamped to the frame of the head in fixed relation thereto.

The cylinder is provided at its upper end with a sinker ring 8 resting upon a shoulder 9, the said sinker ring having projections,

the spaces between which form continuations otthe guide grooves of the cylinder. The needles areoperated by cams composed of an upper section "10 ands lower section 11, the former being carried by a ring 12 mounted upon posts 13 which are secured to the revolving head 14- ot the machine. This head rotates on the shoulders" of the fixed frame.

In orderto adjust the lengthot the stitch the nut 5 is loosened, the cylinder is turned so that its screw-threaded shank will raise or lower in relation to the fixed frame and the proper ad ustment having been reached,

the cylinder will be fixed in position by turning thenut 5 against 'tlieiin'cler side of the The lower section is held by screws 15 passing through a flange or cylinder 16 form ng a part of the head let.

head 4,.to thus clampthe shank ot the cylinder rigidly in place. I

The head 14 is driven by a gear 18 mesh-- ing with a circular rack 19 on the under side of the head.

The two cam members 11 and 12 are ea h formed in one piece and despite the fact that the cylinder is of mall diameter and the. cams ot a correspondingly small diameter, two feeds may be employed in conned tionwith the cylinder because of the onepiece construction of the cam members and because of the fact that no ad ust n devices for separate cam pieces are'necessary or are employed.

The yarn guides, two in number, are shown at a, 6, arranged at diametrically opiosite DOlIlllS and these are carried b. the

ring 12 so as to revolve around the cylinder. The yarn is fed to one of these guides from an overhead bobbin 20 which is supported upon the cross-piece 21 mounted on.

the posts 22 extending up from the revolving head of the machine. The yarn from this bobbin passes up through a guide eye 23 and thence laterally and downward. through the hollow post or rod24l from whence it passes to oneof the yarn guides.

The other yarn is drawn from a bobbin.

25 supported in fixed relation to the ma chine upon astandard 26 and this yarn is delivered through guides. 27 to the other one of the hollow rods 2st from the lower end of which the yarn runs directly to the other yarn guide.

I have provlded means whereby the machine will be stopped when a bunch or a damaged needle occurs, said ymeans includ ing a detector finger 28 pivot-ally mounted otallymounted at 47.

the machine.

at 29 upon the ring 12 and having its inner end lying close to the needles to be affected by any irregularity in the knitting, and when this occurs the detector finger will be swung aside withdrawing its outer end from under a collar 30 slidably mounted upon one of the posts 22 and pressed normally downward by a spring 31 so that when the detector finger operates the collar 30 will he forcibly thrown down into line with a latch 32 and as the collar ravels with the rotary part of the head it will come against the latch 32 and withdraw it against. the tension of its spring 33 from engagement with the vertical plunger 34 which will then be forced downwardly by its spring 35 to operate the resetting lever 36. This lever is pivotally mounted at 37 and is proveded with a handle 38. The depression of this lever removes its catch 39 from the let-off rod 4-0 so that this may be operated by any suitable spring to shift the belt and thus stop the machine. The plunger 34 bears normally upon the resetting lever 36 so that when the operator resets the lever 36 in position to hold the let olf 'for the operation of the machine the plunger 34 will be lifted so that the catch 82 will engage its upper portion and retain it until the next automatic stopping action occurs. This arrangement will prevent the operator. from starting the machine without restoring the plunger 3% to its normal position for operation. The tubular fabric as it'emerges from the hollow nut 5 passes under a pin or rod 41 which serves to flatten the tube and from this point the tube passes over another rod 42 and thence to the take-up rolls 43' of the take-up mech anism, which is shown generally at A, and which may be of any ordinary form. From the takeup rolls th fabric passes over and under guide pins 4E3, 4A and thence to the spooling mechanism located at the base of This spooling mechanism in volves a spool carried by arms 4:6 piv- The tape is guided to the spool from a plate 48 which has a rounded opening 49 and also an elongated slot of substantially rectangular form at 50. The end of the plate also serves for guiding the tube, for which. purpose it is provided with an elongated notch 51. This guide tS travel back'and forth lengthwise of thespool and serves to lay the flattened tube in the form of a double tape spirally upon the spool so that it will assume the form shown in Figs. 4 and 5 at B.

At flj,' the tape is indicated as passin throughthe round opening 49. This open-- ing is employed of this round shape so that theflattened tape can accommodate itself to the differentangles which it assumes its passage from the guide rons or pins L3. 4.4 to the spooling mechanism due to the traversing action of the guide plate 48 back and forth along the spool. As this back and forth traveling movement takes place, the tape in passing through the round open ing will assume a position such as shown at [6' or various other positions to an eX- treme position which i the reverse of that shown at 01. these positions being in accord ance with the variouslocations or relative positions of the guide longitudinally of the spool. From this round opening the tape passes in flat form through the opening :30 in the traveling guide and thence through the elongated notch 51 at the end of the guide so that as it leaves this latter point itwill be in flat form to be wound on the spool as indicated at B. In other words. the guide 4:8 as constructed with the round opening 49 and the two elongated guiding members 50, 51, takes care of the tape in all of its angular positions and assures its dc livery t0 the spool in flat form despitethe fact that the point of delivery to the spool is constantly changing due to the back and forth movement of the guide. The guide is given this traversing movement by a double screw 52 mounted in suitable bearings in the pivoted frame of the spooling mechanism and driven by a sprocket wheel 53. a chain 5a and a sprocket wheel 55 on the shaft 56 of the spool. The spool is operated by a driving drum 57. This drum is arranged under the spool with its axis in the same vertical plane therewith and by its revolution it turns the spool. The drum is driven through special mechanism so that the spool will be rotated properly at all diameters thereof to lay the tape thereupon with a substantially even tension. This driving means consists of a ratchet wheel 58 on the shaft 56 driven by a pawl 59 car ried by a rocking arm 60 mounted on the shaft 56 said arm being operated through a link 61 from a lever 62 which is suitably pivoted on the frame at (53 and carries a roller 6 f borne upon by a cam 65 by which the leve i oscillated, A spring 66 presses the lever in one direction. The positive movement imparted to the rod 61 from the cam 65 serves only to set the pawl 59 into engagement with a fresh tooth for'the oper atio of the ratchet wheel 58. The actual operation of the ratchet and consequently of the driving drum is due to the spring 66, and it will thus be seen that the winding of the tape upon the spool is due to the tensio of the spring 66 and this spring will accommodate itself to varying delivery of the tape from the knitting 'machine', or

in other words when the delivery is normal or free, the spring will turn the drum through a normal angular space, whereas when the delivery of th tape from the knitting head is below normal, the spring will cease driving and the drum will not be driven to the same extent and thus the winding of the tape upon the spool will be substantially uniform under all conditions. The interposition of th guide pins or rods 43, 44 between the spooling mechanism and the take-up mechanism results in a cer tain independence of operation between these two sets of mechanism so that one will not unduly affect the other. The spooling will thus depend upon the'delivery of the tapefrom the guide pins or rods a3, i-fi and the action of the take-up mechanism will be due to the conditions or length of tape between the rods or pins 43, 4:4 and the needles. i i

The spool frame rises as the diameter of the spool increases and when it reaches a certain elevation, a spring detent or catch 67 will engage beneath a'pin 68 on the frame and hold the frame in elevated position so that the operator then may remove the. full spool and replace'it with an empty spool. For this action, the spool is held at one end by engaging pin 69 and at its other end by a pin 70 on a rod 71- slidably mounted in a suitable bearing in the frame, said rod being under tension of a spring 72. A finger wheel 7 3 is carried by the rod and this is provided with a notch engaging a pin 74 so that by retracting the rod 71 far enough so that the finger wheel may be turned the rod 71 will be held by the unnotched portionof the finger wheel bearing upon the end of the pin 74. The operator then may use both hands for replacm0; spbol will be locked in position by simply turning the finger wheel so its notch will align with the pin 74, whereupon the spring 72 will thrust the rod to hold the spool but to allow the same to rotate. i

The lever 36 is designed to be operated when a spool is fully wound with tape. For this purpose, the pivoted frame of the spooling mechanism is iirovidedwith an extension 75 connected by a chain 7 6 with the resetting lever 36 so when the spool attains the prescribed diameter the lever 36 willbe thrown down and the let-off mechanism will be allowed to operate to stop the machine.

It will be observed that the frame is formed with a central boss 4' providing a shoulder 4" upon which the plate 14 is. supported and that this plate turns about th boss.

As before stated, the double screw is operated from the shaft of the spool and there fore the traversing movement of the guide frame 48 for the tape varies in speed ac cording to the size of the spool. When the spool is of small diameter, the rotation of the driving drum through a given angle will give a rotative movement to the spool through a greater angle (a revolution or the spool and having done this, the

more) than when the spool is of larger diameter and hence the traversing movement of the guide must be greater in the case of a small diameter of spooled tape than when the spool is of greater diameter. The needle camsare 45 angle cams. Being formed in one piece, they require little space and two feeds can be used.

By using a trick wheel and a special form of needle at any point or points in the-"' needle circle to cooperate therewith, a design may be knit into the fabric as shown at y, Fig. 9. The special needle maybe a long latch needle or a short butt needle.

One or more of th raising cams may be fabric between the take-up rolls and the spooling means, against which the fabric bears and travels,whereby the tension ofthe fabric between the needles and take-up rolls and between the take-up rolls and the spooling means will be localized, the tension of the one stretch of fabric being substantially free fromefl'ect of the tension of the other stretch of fabric, substantially as described.

2.1n combination with a rotary knitting machine, take-up rolls, means for spooling the tubular knit fabric in flat form, and

friction bearing means in the course of the fabric between the take-up rolls and the spooling means, against which the fabric bears andtravels, whereby the tension of the fabric between the needles and take-up rolls and between the take-up rolls and the spool ing means will be localized, the tension of the one stretch of fabric being substantially free from effect of the tension of the other stretch of fabric, said friction bearing means being elevated in respect to the take-up rolls, the spooling means being in a lower plane than the take-up rolls, substantially as scribed.

3. In combination with a circular knittin machine. for producing tubular fabric of small diameter for tape, a spool of considerably greater length than the width of the tape, receiving the tape from the machine, guide means having a back and forth move ment along the spool, and delivering the tubular fabric thereto in flat form at all points of its travel, and means for rotating the.

opening to receive the tubular fabric, and an aperture of elongated form to direct the tape, after leaving the round opening, in flat form upon the spool, substantially as described.

l. In combination with a. knitting machine, mechanism for spooling the fabric comprising a movable frame adapted to support the spool, a driving drum for operating the spool and upon which the fabric covered surfaceof the spool rests so that the spool will move in relation to the drum as the fabric is wound thereon, and a let off connection extending from the frame of the spool to be operated by the movement thereof when the prescribed diameter of the spool has been attained, substantially as described.

In combination with a knittingmachine, a spooling mechanism, comprising a movable frame, a spool mounted therein, a driving drum upon which the spool rests with the wound material interposed, so that the said spool will move bodily as the diameter of the spool grows, and an automatic catch for holding the spool frame in its moved'position after the desired diameter of I spooled material has been reached, and let off mechanism controlled by the movement of the ,said'frame.

1" 6. In combination with a knitting machine, a spool to receive the fabrictherefrom,a driving drum for the spool upon which the fabric-carried by the spool rests, whereby the revolution of the spool varies as the diameter of the spool grows, a guide arranged to move alongside the spool for directing' the fabric thereupon, a double screw shaft for giving the guide a back and forth movement, and means for imparting the rotary motion of the spool to the screw shaft so that the guide will vary in its speed of traverse along the spool in accordance with the growth of the spool, said means consisting of a power transmitting means deriving its power from the spool, substantially as described. i v

i 7. In combination with a knitting machine, a spool to receive the fabric therefrom, a driving drum for the spool upon which the fabric carried by the spool rests,

a' guide movable back and forth along the spool to direct the fabric thereupon, and means for giving the guide its back and forth movement, said means deriving its movement from the rotary movement of the spool, so as to vary its speed and the speed of movement of the guide in accordance with the varying diameter of the spool, substantially as described.

8. In combination with a knitting machine, a spool to receive the tubular fabric therefrom, a drum upon which the spool rests with the wound fabric interposed between its periphery and that of the drum, and means for driving the drumintermlttingly and variably in accordance with the delivery of the fabric from the machine to the drum, said drum driving the spool by its frictional contacttherewith, and a guide for the fabric to lay it flat and spirally on the spool, and means deriving its movement from the rotary motion of the spool for giving the fabric guide a back and forth traversing movement parallel with the axis of the spool,.substantially as described.

9. In combination, with a knitting machine, a spool to receive the tubular fabric therefrom, a drum. upon which the spool rests with the wound fabric interposed between its periphery and that of the drum, and means for driving the drum intermittingly'and variably in accordance with the delivery of the fabric from the machine to the drum, said drum driving thespool by frictional contact therewith, a guide for the fabric to lay it spirally on the spool, and

means for imparting back and forth movement to the guidepconsisting of a power transmitting connection from the shaft of the spool to the said means, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof, I aflix my signature.

HERBERT THEODORE BALLARD. 

